Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tail

/ˈteɪ̯l/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.34 in modern English

Syllables
tail
IPA
/ˈteɪ̯l/
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to their posterior and near the anus or cloaca.

noun

An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something.

noun

The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.

noun

The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.

noun

The tail-end of any object.

noun

The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.

noun

The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.

noun

The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *taglą Proto-West Germanic *tagl Old English tæġl Middle English tayl English tail From Middle English tail, taile, taille, tayil, tayl, tayle, tayll, teil, tæȝel, from Old English tæġel, tæġl (“tail”), from Proto-West Germanic *tagl, from Proto-Germanic *taglą (“hair, fiber; hair of a tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ- (“hair of the tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to tear, fray, shred”). Cognates Cognate with German Zagel (“tail”), Danish, Faroese, and Icelandic tagl (“tail”), Swedish tagel (“horsehair”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, “hair”); also Serbo-Croatian дла̏ка, dlȁka (“single hair”), Slovene dlaka (“single hair”), Northern Kurdish dezî (“cotton, thread”), Sanskrit दशा (daśā, “border, fringe, hem”). In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: tail, tæġel, *tagl, *taglą, *doḱ-, *deḱ-

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈteɪ̯l/
  • British English: /ˈteɪ̯l/

Usage

Inflected Forms

tails (plural) tails (present, singular) tailing (participle, present) tailed (participle, past) tailed (past)

Derived Forms

antitail astrotail bangtail barbtail beavertail betail bigtail bluetail boattail bobtail bonytail bristletail

Phrases

at the tail bang tail bang-tail beaver tail blue rat's tail box tail bristle-tail broken tail

Frequently Paired Words

cat-o'-nine-tails chase one's tail have the world by the tail Otter Tail County tail covert tail feather tail fin tail light

Synonyms

descender aphrodisia carnal knowledge coitus coition commerce commixtion congress conjunction connection consummation conversation

Homonyms

tale tael

Rhymes With

sale male scale full-scale mail they'll email jail fail detail trail rail

Questions

How do you pronounce tail?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈteɪ̯l/.
What does tail mean?
The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to their posterior and near the anus or cloaca.
Where does tail come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce tail

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tail”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈteɪ̯l/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tail”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “tail” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.